Microsoft is all set to go head-to-head with Twitch. Yesterday, the Windows maker announced that it has acquired the interactive live-streaming service, Beam.
While the terms of the deal remain undisclosed, Beam is set to become part of the Xbox team, founder Matt Salsamendi revealed in a blog post. He also stated: “Right now it’s business as usual! We just launched three brand new interactive integrations and we’ll continue to focus on making the Beam platform an awesome place for gaming communities that want to interact with their audience.”
Not a lot is going to change for Beam users. If Microsoft plans to let the platform grow till a certain point when it’ll be fully integrated into its overall strategy and platform, Beam still has time to evolve further and now with a bigger budget.
Beam was first launched in January to compete against the well-established game-streaming platforms, Twitch and YouTube. It wouldn’t be wrong to state that Beam is a more polished version of Twitch in a few aspects. The former boasts of its trademark feature which enables you to participate in what you are watching.
Customized buttons can be added to a stream so viewers can click and cast their votes, and this can be done with basic coding experience. Beam’s super low-latency videos make it possible for users to interact with streamers in real time, and this is what gives the service an edge over big players that have the usual 10-second lag.
Clearly, the main advantage that the acquisition deal offers to Microsoft is the ease with which it can integrate Beam into Xbox Live right away. The Windows maker does not need to design a new site or service and make efforts to entice users to use it; it can simply put the Beam live-streaming platform in front of its Xbox Live users and let them run it.
“We at Xbox are excited about this convergence between playing and watching, and want to provide gamers with the freedom and choice to have great multiplayer experiences across all of Beam’s platforms," said a partner group program manager at Microsoft's Xbox Live division, Chad Gibson in a statement. "This acquisition will help gamers enjoy the games they want, with the people they want, and on the devices they want."
Live-streaming has become a cottage industry of sorts for the average Internet user. Streamers discuss topics ranging from technology to fashion and sports among others. The huge numbers of viewers who follow live streams help the streamer and platform in monetizing the effort, which requires little, if any, investment.
Streaming video games has become what can be referred to as a highly popular sub-section of the live-streaming industry. Millions of viewers follow minor celebrities such as Jeffrey Shih and PewDiePie, who make unbelievable amounts of money by merely shrieking in front a microphone as they play their favorite games.
It will be interesting to see how Amazon’s $1 billion acquisition, Twitch, and the mighty YouTube respond to the powerful new competition, once it comes at them with full force. We won’t be surprised if YouTube, Twitch and others are already making changes to their live-streaming strategy.